(CBR) DC Comics has spentthe pastmonth showing off rafts of new art from their incoming “Villains Month” promotion, and amidst familiar characters like Doomsday, Bane, Killer Croc and Black Adam, there’s one very surprising “new” face.

In his “What’s New In The New 52?” column on the DC blog, Editor-in-Chief Bob Harras revealed a new design for a new version of the classic villain/comedy favorite Lobo. This time out, the character will be a younger, slicker bounty hunter as designed by artist Kenneth Rocafort.

The move is likely to turn heads not only for its departure from the Roger Stern/Keith Giffen creation’s classic biker look but also because Lobo has already appeared in the New 52 continuity. According to Harras, the more traditional version of the character introduced by Rob Liefeld in the pages of “Deathstroke” will now be viewed as an impostor. “The Lobo you”ve seen so far in the New 52 is not who you think he is,” Harras explained of the incoming story by Marguerite Bennett and Ben Oliver. “In this one-shot, you”ll be introduced to the real Lobo. A ruthless killer, Lobo is on a quest to kill the man who has taken his name.”

This is the second time DC has replaced a New 52 version of a character with a “second draft” and, oddly, both instances involved a character introduced by Liefeld. This spring, the publisher announced a new version of Cheshire to appear in their books despite the fact that the character had already been promoted as part of Liefeld’s “Grifter” run, though when she appeared in print, she was referred to only as Niko.

When interviewed by CBR News last month, writer Marguerite Bennett teased this Villains Month twist while describing her take on Lobo. “My goal for him was to make him less comically hyper-masculine and more focused. He’s still vicious, still savage and still entirely immoral, but I wanted a gravity out of the character. When he showed up, I didn’t want him walking away from explosions and smoking a cigar. When he shows up, I want people to feel like, ‘This is it. This is the end.'”

Check out Rocafort’s other Lobo redesigns below, then sound off on the CBR Boards about the new look for the baddest bastich in the universe.

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Lobo was the only thing that was worth reading in DC anymore for me. No more comics for me now.

By: HitFix User

09.04.2013 @ 3:53 PM

“My goal for him was to make him less comically hyper-masculine”

Making a comedy character less comical is always a clever move, right?

By: Dude5346

09.06.2013 @ 9:43 PM

Oh god, this. So much.

By: Sophia Santiago

09.04.2013 @ 5:34 PM

“My goal for him was to make him less comically hyper-masculine and more focused….”

Translation: I totally wanted to make him into a deviantartlet’s wet dream.

Get rid of funny, masculine, and simple fun. Bring in dark, edgy, and effeminite.

At least I don’t have to concern myself with reading DC anymore.

By: berserk

09.04.2013 @ 8:34 PM

This will only work IF the new Lobo is a parody of broody antiheros like Batman; like if every other word out of him is one of the following “find, imposter, revenge, him.”

If this Lobo is to be taken seriously? Then the artist in question could have just rebooted some other antihero who is slick, edgy, broody, etc.

Maybe it’s simply because writing an action hero is so much easier than writing a parody of one.

By: Sir GearHeart

09.05.2013 @ 1:22 AM

WOW, yeah between the shit they did to spiderman, punisher, ghostrider, Lobo, and just about every other character I’ve ever liked. I’m done with comics forever. Really comics have just become a tool of the far left liberal media. While stories of gays struggling to fit in, world politics, race, and any other problem make for an ok story and have their place. It is not in my comics. When I read one, I wish to be entrained, not bludgeoned to death with a ham handed anvilicious moral story, or to have a writers beliefs jammed down my throat. Though so far all we know is that the new Lobo is a pretty boy, and no longer a comic badass, I feel its safe to say that the stories will be of such. Yet to be fair, Lobo was made by the arguably sexist Rob Liefeld. This could just be a case of replacing one view of what make a man with another. As others have said, this new Lobo would not look out of place in a trashy teen romance movie, and while I am sure many would love to read such a thing – cough, cough- I am not one of them. Changing what makes a series fun is the best way to show that you don’t care about the fans, aka the people who made you. At which time a good fan should no longer support the work.

To any creators of some medium out there – yeah right we all know no one will read this- if you wish to tell a story, respect the fans. If you wish to make a point, make a new story, don’t shoehorn in things and make radical changes to the existing story.

And yet here I sit, hoping that I will be proved wrong and that Lobo truly will be a frightening badass who makes everyone go oh shit hes here. Yet still I brace for the sloppy purple prose of fanfiction and deviantart.

I cant wait to see what reviews will say about this new girl friendly Lobo story.

By: ghstht

09.05.2013 @ 2:41 AM

So she wants to take away everything that makes Lobo “Lobo”, and turn him a generic evil guy. Super.

By: Fatalis

09.05.2013 @ 4:40 AM

I will buy this comic for the sole purpose of recording myself burning it. (Most likely to light a cigar while walking away from an explosion.)

By: Elfish

09.05.2013 @ 7:54 AM

Number 2 makes me wince. Number 3 there is pretty good for a redesign. Number 1 and 4 should be chucked out the window. ESPECIALLY NUMBER 4! Looks like a starved zombie version of Slobo. How do you look at the Main Man and pop out designs 1 and 4? How?!

By: Nohbdy

09.05.2013 @ 8:44 AM

Someone PLEASE slit this womans throat before this thing hits print…

By: manic mole

09.05.2013 @ 9:23 AM

next they are gonna turn Dawg into a bloody Pekingese.

By: LordofChaos

09.05.2013 @ 5:50 PM

BETRAYAL!!!!

By: LordOfChaos

09.05.2013 @ 5:54 PM

BETRAYAL!!!

By: LordOfChaos

09.05.2013 @ 5:55 PM

Whoops, made a double comment.

By: Andrew

09.06.2013 @ 7:33 PM

Sleeker, I think you mean. A spelling error in the headline. Christ. Also, there’s only one ‘n’ in “retcons”.

I sincerely hope nobody involved was paid for this article. Don’t even bother trying to justify it. You clearly aren’t cut out for a life doing anything requiring more skill and attention to detail than sweeping a floor.

By: Foppenbottom

09.06.2013 @ 8:00 PM

I have had loads of knuckle children that are more imposing and interesting than the new Lobo.

By: Foppenbottom

09.06.2013 @ 8:01 PM

Yeah, I have had loads of knucklechildren that are more interesting and fearsome than the idea of the new lobo.

By: Adrik

09.07.2013 @ 2:21 AM

And she’s absolutely right when she says the audience will look at the new Lobo and say ‘this is the end’.

Of course, they’ll be talking about his popularity.

By: Desose

09.12.2013 @ 11:15 AM

Amen to that.

By: Fred

09.08.2013 @ 10:28 PM

Ugh such a joke

By: Juju

09.12.2013 @ 7:36 AM

Taking Lobo seriously?

What’s next for Marguerite, a The Naked Gun remake that takes Frank Drebin seriously?

By: Twitchiopolis

09.13.2013 @ 3:19 PM

“My goal for him was to make him less comically hyper-masculine and more focused. He’s still vicious, still savage and still entirely immoral, but I wanted a gravity out of the character. When he showed up, I didn’t want him walking away from explosions and smoking a cigar. When he shows up, I want people to feel like, ‘This is it. This is the end.'”

Is it just me, or aren’t there dozens of other DC villains out there that fit this bill already? I mean, Darkseid right out of the box?

A little while ago we made a Wonder Woman Fan Film with director Jesse V. Johnson – [vimeo.com]

It was a great experience and the reaction was great!
When we made the film there was really nothing else out there on her – of course that is no longer the case.

As hard-core fans of Lobo, we felt the Main Man also needed some screen time.
Lobo® is a registered trademark of DC Comics. Used without permission. This film has no affiliation, endorsement, or adoption with DC Comics or any of its related corporate entities.

We didn’t want to see him CG/VFX’d out, or altered to be PC correct like the New 52, so we made the film reflect how we wanted to see him.